


another dream, another love you'll hold

by zornslemon



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 11:05:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6702205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zornslemon/pseuds/zornslemon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Vox Machina is like that. They come into people’s lives, perform incredible acts of heroism, and then leave again, ignoring the people they leave behind." Cassandra and Kaylie bond.</p>
            </blockquote>





	another dream, another love you'll hold

**Author's Note:**

> I saw someone mention this pairing on tumblr, and I couldn't get this fic idea out of my head. This takes place after episode 51, assuming that Vox Machina doesn't TPK in the Kevdak fight and sends Dr. Dranzel's troupe off to Whitestone in the aftermath.
> 
> Title taken from "Those You've Known" from Spring Awakening.

Percy left.

That’s all Cassandra can think as she tries to organize living arrangements for the last batch of refugees. This would all be so much easier if Percy had stayed in Whitestone. It’s not like he’s all that good at governance, she supposes, but neither is she. She had been too young to know much when everything had fallen apart, and after that, she learned to be a rogue, not a ruler. At least if Percy were there, they could figure all of this out together.

(She can get the council to help, and she’s grateful for that, but she can’t let them do all the work. She’s already done too much to sully the De Rolo name. She has to do something to bolster it now.)

She’s staring at a crudely drawn map of Whitestone when she decides she just can’t bear it anymore. She rushes off to a mostly empty part of town, slumps down next to a tree, and bursts into tears.

What she’s not expecting is to have a gnome girl walk right by and interrupt her.

“Rough day?” the gnome asks.

“You could say that,” Cassandra says.

“Same here,” the girl says. “If I tell you about mine, will you tell me about yours?”

“Sure. Go for it.”

“My absentee father who didn’t even know I existed until a month ago decided to dump me here, because he’s apparently worried about me now and doesn’t realize that without him around, I really learned how to take care of myself.”

Cassandra smiles faintly. “My self-important brother decided to dump a bunch of refugees here on my doorstep and left me to deal with them while he goes off and does Pelor knows what.”

“Well, I guess we both know the joys of having disappointing family members, then,” the gnome says. “I’m Kaylie, by the way.”

“Cassandra Johanna Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo.”

Kaylie quirks an eyebrow. “That’s quite a name.”

“I’m trying to wear it with pride these days,” Cassandra says. “In case it wasn’t clear, my family situation is a bit messy.”

“Well, Cassandra Something Something de Rolo, do you want to grab a drink and tell me about it?” Kaylie asks.

“I think Whitestone’s gotten back to the point where we have a decent tavern or two, so, yeah, let’s get a drink.”

\---

They grab drinks and talk all evening. Kaylie talks about what happened in Westruun. Cassandra explains the situation in Whitestone. (She leaves out the details and certainly doesn’t explain her own part in the rebellion, but she tells Kaylie enough.) They agree to get drinks again later that week, and it feels good to have someone she can really talk to for the first time since the Briarwoods came to Whitestone.

They’ve known each other for a week or so when Kaylie mentions Scanlan’s name and Cassandra cuts her off.

“Scanlan. Scanlan Shorthalt is your dad?”

“Yeah,” Kaylie says. “Had I not mentioned his name before?”

“It’s just… I know him,” Cassandra says. “He’s one of the saviors of Whitestone, actually.”

“You know Scanlan?”

“Yeah, kind of. Not well. He seemed funny.”

“He’s a clever guy,” Kaylie says, just a hint of bitterness in his voice. “I guess you’re familiar with the illustrious Vox Machina, then.”

Cassandra chuckles. “You could say that. I guess you’re familiar with them too, then.”

“Well, yeah.”

“So, uh, then you know Percy,” Cassandra says. “He’s my brother.”

“Yeah, I know him,” Kaylie says. “He helped try to get me out of jail once. It didn’t work very well, but he humiliated Scanlan a bit in the process, so I guess it still worked out for me. Other than that, I don’t really know him all that well.”

“That’s the thing about Vox Machina. It seems like you never really get to know them well,” Cassandra says. She pauses and then adds, “It feels stupid of me to say that when of course I know Percy well. He’s my brother.”

“I don’t know. It seems fair to me,” Kaylie says. “I haven’t seen Percy around here much lately.”

“Well, he’s busy. He’s off saving the world.”

“And before? When the Briarwoods were still here?”

Cassandra shakes her head. “He left. But then he came back and saved the whole city.”

“Yeah, well, Vox Machina is like that,” Kaylie says. “They come into people’s lives, perform incredible acts of heroism, and then leave again, ignoring the people they leave behind.”

“I guess, but maybe that’s not a bad thing,” Cassandra says. “The world needs heroes like that or else we wouldn’t be able to stop all these horrible, world-destroying monsters.”

“Maybe,” Kaylie says. “I just think that sometimes they’re so focused on doing good things that they forget to be good people.”

\---

They’ve known each other for about a month when Cassandra decides Kaylie deserves to know everything. She sits Kaylie down in the castle and explains about how Percy left her to die, how the resentment grew in her over the years, how she almost truly came to believe that she could become a Briarwood. She explains that she fought against Vox Machina, against her own brother, and only changed allegiances once Delilah was nearly dead anyways.

She expects Kaylie to judge her for what she did. She even wants Kaylie to judge her for what she did, since she still feels unfathomably guilty about it. Instead, Kaylie just says, “You know, I tried to kill Scanlan once.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it was sort of my life’s goal for awhile,” Kaylie says. “I had this grand idea that I’d get revenge for him deserting my mother. For years, I arranged my whole life so that I could meet him and get that revenge.”

“And you met him?”

“Yeah, I joined up with his old troupe, and sure enough, we eventually ran into him,” Kaylie says. “At first, he was pretty much as horrible as I was expecting. He started hitting on me. I mean, he didn’t know I was his daughter at the time, but still. And then once I told him who I was, it was obvious that he barely remembered my mother.”

“So what stopped you from killing him, then?”

“He apologized,” Kaylie says. “It sounds stupid when I say it like that, but he apologized, and he told me that if I wanted to hurt him, he wouldn’t defend himself, and in that moment, I realized I wasn’t so terrible a person that I would kill my own father.”

“Percy apologized too,” Cassandra says. “When he found me in that study, he apologized, and I still turned against him.”

“But you didn’t kill him. Just like I didn’t kill Scanlan,” Kaylie says. “I like to think that that moment where I couldn’t kill Scanlan defines me more than all the times I planned to kill him. Maybe it’s like that with you and Percy.”

“Maybe,” Cassandra says. “I hope so.”

And then out of nowhere, Kaylie kisses her.

“What was that for?”

“For getting me.”

Cassandra smiles, as she realizes the feels the exact same way. There’s never been anyone she can talk to as easily as she can talk to Kaylie, and suddenly she desperately want to kiss Kaylie again

“I, uh, I’ve never been kissed before,” she says, blushing a little.

“Really?”

Cassandra shrugs. “I was pretty young when the Briarwoods came here, and once they did, it just wasn’t going to happen.”

“Well, I guess we need to make up for lost time,” Kaylie says. “If you want to, of course.”

Cassandra nods. “You know, when I was a kid, it was always very clear that I was supposed to be married off to a young man from another noble family. Politics mattered more than romance, I guess,” she says. “I’m glad that the new council means that we don’t have to worry about that sort of thing anymore, since I’ve never cared much for men.”

Kaylie chuckles. “I don’t have all the nobility baggage, but I sure as hell don’t care much for men either.”

And then they’re kissing again, and neither of them has much to say.

\---

It just happens to work out that the next time Vox Machina comes into town, Percy and Scanlan are the two that walk by the bench in the town square where Cassandra and Kaylie are sitting and holding hands.

“Scanlan, are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Percy says in that fake calm tone he always uses when he’s furious and pretending not to be.

“I think I am,” Scanlan says. He walks up to the bench. “Kaylie, great to see you again. I think we should have a nice little talk about how you really don’t need to date until you’re at least 150.”

Kaylie rolls her eyes and tightens her grip on Cassandra’s hand ever so slightly. “And you’re one to talk?”

“Well, I was kind of hoping you’d do as I say and not as I do,” Scanlan says.

Percy walks up to Kaylie and looks her straight in the eye. “So I take it you are involved with my sister?”

“That’s right. What of it?” Kaylie says.

“I just want you to know that if you hurt her in any way, you will sorely regret it,” Percy says, a quiet intensity in his voice. “I am sure that she has told you that I am an accomplished gunsmith, and if any harm comes to her, I will put my inventions to good use. It will not be pleasant. It will not be pretty. Do you understand?”

Kaylie nods.

“Not to put too fine a point on it, Percy, but Cassandra hasn’t exactly had a great track record herself,” Scanlan says. “Should I trust her with my daughter?”

Cassandra feels a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She opens her mouth, trying to muster up some weak defense, but Percy starts speaking before she can think of anything to say.

“As much as it truly horrifies me that my sister is dating a blood relative of yours, Scanlan, I don’t think we have any reason to be wary of this situation,” Percy says. “People can do horrible things under duress, and Cassandra’s recent behavior has been nothing but admirable.”

“Thanks, Percy,” Cassandra says. “Though I can speak for myself, you know.”

“I know. I just thought you could use a little help now and again,” Percy says. “In any case, Scanlan and I were just heading to a tavern to catch up with the rest of Vox Machina. Would you two like to join us for a drink? Kaylie, I suddenly feel the need to get to know you much better, and it seems Cassandra and I have some catching up to do.”

Cassandra smiles. “A drink sounds good.”


End file.
